Thousands of children in Devon could be starting school this month without basic skills such as being able to hold a pencil or go to the toilet by themselves.

Public Health England measures a child's 'school readiness' according to whether they have reached a good level of development at the end of reception, before entering their first compulsory year of education at age five.

Just 71% of children in Devon were at a good level in the 2016-17 academic year, the latest year for which data is available.

This means around 2,400 children - more than one in four - may not have been ready for school by the time they entered Year 1.

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These cover skills such as being able to communicate thoughts and feelings, socialise with others, go to the toilet unaided, and perform basic physical tasks such as holding a pencil or kicking a ball.

However, literacy and maths are also assessed, in which children score lower than they do in the other subjects.

A child has to be at a good level in every individual area to be assessed as being at a good level overall.

Michael Freeston, director of quality improvement at the Pre-school Learning Alliance (PLA), said it was "deeply unhelpful" to focus too much on literacy and maths at so young an age.

He added: "The focus should be on schools being ready for children and being able to meet their needs, not the other way around."

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"The early years foundation results are not objectively assessed," Mr Freeston said.

"There's an issue with standardisation because it is assessed individually by schools and local authorities.

"That’s not to say certain local authorities don’t do early years learning better than others, but it's in a school's interests to mark children down when they begin so they look better when they improve."

Gill Jones, early education deputy director at Ofsted, said: “More and more children are ready to learn when they begin the National Curriculum in Year 1.

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Nadhim Zahawi, Minister for Children and Families, said: "The Education Secretary has pledged to halve the number of children starting year 1 without early speaking and learning skills by 2028, and will convene a summit in the autumn of businesses, broadcasters and a broad range of other organisations as part of a coalition to explore innovative ways to boost early language development and reading in the home.”